Under Heavy Manners

These Are A Few Of My Favourite Zines

Brain Works Slow . . .

Alexandre Simon (aka Ratcharge) is a 30-year-old French punk, and he writes like a dream. Regardless of the depth of your love for observational punk rock philosophy, Ratcharge’s artwork alone is a treat in itself for those of a cartoonic bent, as is his engaging humour. His ‘Ratcharge’ zine, along with MRR columnist comrade Shiva’s ‘Accept The Darkness’ & Australia’s ‘Distort’, are three convincing arguments why punk’s only dead if you want it to be.

The recent compendium of Ratcharge’s MRR columns, ‘Brain Works Slow’, is a genuinely brilliant piece of work. The author’s explanation for the collection’s title is total punk science. ‘Brain Works Slow’ binds as a whole with satisfying results: its art, its colour, its pocket-sized perfection, extending its remit considerably.

Ratcharge documents the onward development of the global punk and hc underground post-00, along with archaeological digs into the 40-year strata of punk rock and it’s myriad sub-stratas, conducted with taste, reverence, and an almost fanatical devotion to the cause. I’ll leave you with one random fact I learned from reading ‘Brain Works Slow’: the Fugs were called the Fugs because they couldn’t get away with ‘Fucking Ugly’. C’mon have a look in this ‘ere trench, Tony!